USA Quick Facts

USA Quick Facts

Every day our soldiers are putting their lives on the line, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedom. Many soldiers will pay with their lives and many more will pay with debilitating wounds, physical, mental or spiritual. Sea2Sea supports organizations such as Wounded Warriors in their efforts to help the brave servicemen and women and their families.

Here are some quick stats:

Since the birth of the United States of American on July 4, 1776, no single generation of Americans has been spared the responsibility of defending freedom by force of arms. More than 42 Million American men and women have served in time of war. More than a MILLION of these brave men and women have purchased freedom with their lives. (http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/memory/statistics.html)

The number of military veterans in the United States in 2008 – 23.2 million
Source: Table 508, Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010

Number of veterans with any type of disability in 2008 – 5.5 million
Source: 2008 American Community Survey

Number of veterans with a service-connected disability rating – 3.4 million. Of this number, 588,000 have a rating of 70 percent or higher.
Source: 2008 American Community Survey

Physical wounds are easier to see than mental and spiritual wounds. Veterans who return from Iraq and Afghanistan missing limbs or with other physical impediments should justly receive the assistance and treatment they have so profoundly earned for such battle wounds. Yet mental and spiritual wounds from the battlefield are just as prevalent even while being less apparent. Many of our veterans return from the battlefields suffering from debilitating and frequently undetected mental anguish brought on by the vagaries of war. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is merely one among many of these kinds of battle scars. Many suffer in silence or even end their lives due to the inner traumas they have endured. Diagnosing, treating and ultimately empowering our returning veterans to overcome the non-physical battle scars is just as much a part of the mission as insuring commensurate treatment and empowerment to those who suffer physical wounds.

Service members and veterans are at risk for mental health problems, too.These include anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder depression and substance abuse. Suicide is also a factor in accounting for debilitating mental health issues.

1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That’s 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only “active duty” soldiers. CBS investigated the rate of suicides veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other American citizens, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000).

One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the War on Terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml)

The Cost to the US

The respected and non-partisan Congressional Research Service estimates that the US will have spent almost $802 billion on funding the war by the end of fiscal year 2011, with $747.6 billion already appropriated.